"A Time to Start Looking"

My mind is  full of "beautiful" today.

Outside, the brilliant blue sky is Mediterranean blue with pure white clouds rocking and  traveling across like party boats.

The wind has played with our hair today and blown "helicopter" maple seeds whirling around like Spring confetti all throughout the air and yard.

Writing to you here from my writing desk, a gentle robin bird graces me with the privlege of her trust by fluffing herself down into a woven nest of grass in the tender green peach tree framing  our living room window.  We have been watching her for a week now, swooping down to pluck tuffs of grass and to return to a V in her sheltered spot.

  Little boys have been shewed and warned away from our birdie nursery...and sent to their rooms for climbing up for forbidden peeks none the less--how could they help themselves?

  Robin bird made us break out in muffled laughter  as we  piled and balanced on the sofa by the window and watched her through  glass panes.  As she  busied herself with housekeeping that evening, she  flashed us all with her plump bottom--tail feathers so prettily arranged, like a little petticoat.

How amazing our God is in His creative design..even the robins get undergarments!!..

..Today, beyond the little tree, further out in our yard, Ashley, our 16 year old, suns herself in the yard, soaking in Bible homework in the sun... her face is uplifted now...I think she is enjoying more than the sunshine, heart gazing in enjoyment on the One who made this warmth as a love-gift for her....to mark the days and seasons of her life...until she is with Him for ever...

His...forever...

.Much more distance  away but so close to our heart today...a young girl in far away England will be married tonight...

and become a princess...

I will be setting my alarm for the wee hours of the morning ~ and I do not feel this is over- romatic to do so ~
Can you see my girlie grin????

Rare,pure celebration in the midst of the recent shakings and  birth pangs of the World....
...this is one celebration that needs to be savoured!!

~ "a time to laugh"~

~ 'a time to dance'~  *

~ I would not miss for the world the carriage ride, the flowing train, the flowers,  intimate looks exchanged,the beautiful bride, a glowing groom, a nation filled with Joy !!!

Yet, what pulls me awake and allows me to set my alarm for 3:45 this Friday morning is not only a life-long love for romance,beauty and love...

it is all of this...

plus something...

that sings of what is REAL....   Whispered proclamation of the day of the return of the King of All Kings...

On that day in which we will ALL have a front row seat...and every knee will bow...

And as I have felt, especially recently...

the groan...

of global earthquakes,and southern floods and tornados here at home, the ache of human tragedy, nations caught up in upheavals and rumors of war....

I cannot help but remember the loving warning Jesus gave us about all of this.

...to...look up...

just as we would in our daily lives to check the  the weather for the day...He reminds us to look around and to know that these specific global signs are the beginning of a beginning  of .. expectant waiting...for the King's return...He has said that at His return, all those who believe in Him will rule and reign with Him...there will be

garments,crowns, assignments..

.but what I see and feel is...

His  Presence...standing next to Him...access to the King of Kings...

But not just politically or as an invited guest...but as His beloved...His radiant bride...dressed in a wedding gown prepared without spot or blemish because of what we just celebrated this Sunday in our Resurrection worship...
  How can it be....oh, how can it be...that we who believe in Jesus ARE royalty...But  on the other hand...those of you who believe and belong to Him...

...can't you sense it?..."that" day approaching?...

  As women have we not pretended and daydreamed of what is most beautiful?  As men what is most excellent,strong, and victorious?  I see this in my children.  In my two daughters..."Mommy am I beautiful?  Does this make me look like a princess?"   I see it in my four sons as they pick up sticks and stalk around the backyard guarding and prevailing over the kingdom of dandelions and springtime green. Oh,my....it makes me want to live differently in the mundane moments and more heroically in the challenging times...to know what I have been invited into...
...to understand what is coming...
That, as C.S. Lewis so aptly proclaims it in His Narnia series,
surely "Aslan is on the move"...


Blessings Precious Friends,
Gillian

* (verse quotes from Ecclesiastes 3)

Below here I have placed a gift for you. :)  A look into a wonderful book.
Very rarely do I read a book and say that it has changed my life..
One Thousand Gifts has broadened my heart and has made me more in tune to the voice of Christ.  God has used it to make Joy reign again in my heart through the practice and worship of thankfulness and awareness of His Presence in all aspects of daily life.  I wish I could send out copies to everyone I know and love. This is a worthy read!!
Another bit of "beautiful" to lift up my heart in thanks to God today...



One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, Excerpt